POTRAZ unhappy with mobile call charges

The Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ) has stated that mobile call tariffs in the country are around 30% too high, based on a recent cost modelling study which compared costs incurred by service providers with the charges passed on to end users. The regulator has said it will now work with network operators to ensure that tariffs are brought down, although it says it is still too early to discuss actual figures.

A report from the NBC news agency cites POTRAZ acting director general Alfred Marisa as saying: ‘The data tariffs are on the reasonable range, the tariffs charged by fixed network provider TelOne were found to be within reasonable range. It’s just the mobile tariffs that were found to be about 30% above what would be acceptable.’ Cellular operators Econet Wireless, NetOne and Telecel currently charge around USD0.003-USD0.004 per second for mobile calls, depending on which network is being called and the time of day.